The Battle of Mars-La-Tour was fought on 16
August 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War near the town
of Mars-La-Tour in north-east France. Two Prussiancorps encountered the entire French Army of the
Rhine, and successfully forced the Army of the Rhine to retreat
into the fortresses of Metz.

A cavalry patrol, the 1st Squadron the 1st Hanoverian Dragoon
Regiment No. 9, led by Rittmeister Oskar von Blumenthal,
discovered that 130,000 French soldiers were attempting to escape
from Metz in order to join up with French forces at Verdun, after suffering several defeats at
the front. This intelligence prompted Prince Frederick Charles to send, on the
16th, a grossly outnumbered group of 30,000 men of the advanced III
Corps (of the 2nd Army) under General Constantin von Alvensleben
in order to cut them off. They found the French Army near
Vionville, east of Mars-la-Tour. Despite being outnumbered more
than four to one, III Corps routed the French and captured
Vionville, blocking any further escape attempts to the West. Once
prevented from retreat, the French inside Metz had no choice but to
fight in a battle that would see the last major cavalry engagement
in Western Europe. III corps was devastated by incessant cavalry
charges, losing over half its soldiers, while the French suffered
equivalent numerical loses of 16,000 soldiers, but still held on to
overwhelming numerical superiority.

On August 16, 1870 the French could have swept away the key
Prussian defence and escaped. Two Prussian corps attacked the
French advanced guard thinking that it was the rearguard of the
retreat of the French Army of the Meuse. Despite this misjudgement
the two Prussian corps held the entire French army for the whole
day. Outnumbered more than 4:1 the extraordinary self-belief and
stubbornness of the Prussians prevailed over Bazaine's gross
indecision.

Von Bredow's "Death
Ride"

The Battle of Mars-La-Tour is also notable for one of the very
few successful cavalrycharges of
modern warfare. Harassed by French artillery each time he redeployed his forces
following a French attack, his infantry reserves exhausted and
fearing that his shaky left flank was about to be charged by French
cavalry, General von Alvensleben sent a message to the commander of
the 12th Cavalry Brigade Major-GeneralFriedrich
Wilhelm Adalbert von Bredow demanding that he silence French General Canrobert's
artillery and forestall a French cavalry charge with one of his
own.

Noting that "it will cost what it will," von Bredow took his
time to organize the brigade, consisting of the 7th Cuirassiers, 19th Dragoons and 16th Uhlans. In what would become known
as "Von Bredow's Death Ride" the cavalrymen rode out from Prussian
lines at 1400 hours, von Bredow using the terrain and gun smoke to
mask movements from French observers until the very last moment.
Bursting into view some 1000 meters from the French lines, the
Prussian cavalry charged into and broke through the French gun
lines causing widespread panic and scattering Canrobert's soldiers
in all directions. The French cavalry attempted to counter-charge
into von Bredow's flank and rear, but were dispersed by Canrobert's
panicked infantry who gunned down any cavalrymen they could see
without discrimination.

Having silenced the French artillery and neutralized the French
cavalry, von Bredow's brigade managed to extricate itself and
withdrew having lost half its numbers. Among the wounded from 12th
Brigade was Herbert von Bismarck, son of the
Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

Results

The battle had been a strategic victory for the Prussians.
Bazaine had failed to make it to Verdun. In short time the
Prussians trapped Bazaine in the city and the siege of Metz ensued.

Von Bredow's death ride had a significant effect on warfare. The
success of the cavalry charge gave the impression that cavalry
could still play a decisive role in battle, and cavalry units
continued to be part of the armed forces of major European powers
for the next 47 years.